Chapter 24: Taking 2nd Exam
Kenji went towards the Hokage's office. After reaching the front of his room, he knocked.
**Knock knock**
"Come in."
Kenji entered after listening to the command. He bowed and greeted, "Lord Hokage."
"Good morning, Kenji. So, what do you want to say?"
"Sir, two of my students think that they are ready to take the second exam. Even though I tried to tell them that they should take their time in learning this jutsu, they kept saying they are confident enough to take the exam," Kenji said with frustration in his voice.
Hiruzen smiled and asked, "Are those students Kaida and Yomi?"
Kenji was surprised by this sudden question. How did Lord Hokage know about their names since this incident had just occurred?
Seeing his face, Hiruzen replied, "They both are quite hardworking and talented, so it was not difficult to guess their names. You can go back and tell them they will have to take their exam in one hour in training area 13."
Kenji just nodded respectfully and left.
Hiruzen had a smile on his face thinking about how Konoha would have two more talented ninjas in the future. He called his secretary and told her that he would be busy for 2 or 3 hours. He then told Shikaku to handle the work in his absence after one hour.
The secretary just nodded and went back. Shikaku, from the Nara clan, the father of Shikamaru Nara, and the current Jonin commander of Konoha, had a great mind but a lazy personality. When he heard that Hiruzen transferred all his work to him, he couldn't help but curse under his breath.
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Kenji went back to the academy and called Kaida and Yomi. He told them that they would have to take the exam in training area 13 in one hour, and that Lord Hokage himself would be watching.
Kaida just nodded, but Yomi got tense hearing that they would have to take the exam in one hour and that Lord Hokage himself was watching. But remembering their training and Kaida's confidence in their ability when he was talking to Kenji, she calmed down.
They swiftly made their way toward training area 13. Konoha has many forests inside the village, with varying lengths named as training areas for ninjas. One can pay and book a training ground if they want to practice something new or dangerous.
Training area 13 was in the west of the academy. It was a flat ground the size of four football fields, surrounded by a thick layer of trees. Kaida and Yomi went to the training area and started doing warm-up exercises.
After around half an hour, Kenji and Hokage came to the training area. Seeing both of them doing some light exercises, Hiruzen smiled a little.
"Both of you come here, it's time to begin the test," Kenji said.
When they heard the command, both of them went toward Kenji. Seeing that Hokage was present, both of them bowed their heads.
"It has been so long, how are you guys doing?" Hokage asked.
"We have been practicing hard, just as you said last time," Yomi replied with a wide smile on her face.
"Very well. I heard that you guys want to take your second exam. Are you guys confident in your use of shuriken and those three jutsu?"
"Yes, Hokage," Kaida replied.
"Very well, you guys have to show your skills in shuriken throwing. Hit those targets first."
When he said that, three targets emerged from the ground at a distance of 250 meters. First, Yomi decided to take this test. She went forward and threw three shuriken back to back, and all of them hit the dead center of the target. Similarly, Kaida took the test, and with similar speed, he hit the target back to back at dead center.
Seeing this, Hiruzen smiled and said, "Very good. Now I will throw a target in the air at the same distance. You guys have to hit the target before it reaches the ground."
This time, Kaida decided to take the exam first. Hiruzen used his chakra to make a target like the previous time but tossed it in the air. When it was in the middle of the air, Kaida took out a shuriken and threw it at the target, hitting the dead center again.
This was enough to pass any student, but Hiruzen decided to check the limit of Kaida, so this time he tossed three targets at once in the air. Seeing this, Kaida took out three shuriken and threw them one by one. All of them hit the target at the center. This time, he threw five targets in the air. Seeing Kaida quickly shifted toward Yomi and shouted, "Yomi, give me your weapon bag!"
Yomi threw her bag as fast as she could. Kaida caught the bag and swiftly took out five shuriken from it and threw them at the target one by one. But due to time constraints, one shuriken missed the center by a little.
Hiruzen was surprised by the quick decision-making capability of Kaida, as he forgot that academy students had only six shurikens allotted to them and increased the number of targets. He turned toward Kenji and asked, "Can you please retrieve those shurikens?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage," Kenji quickly used the body flicker jutsu and brought all those shurikens back. Hiruzen pointed toward Yomi, and Kenji gave all those shuriken to Yomi. Yomi quickly understood what that meant. This was her time for the test, so she got ready. Hiruzen once again did the same thing, and Yomi was able to hit all the targets.
After Yomi hit her last target, Hiruzen said, "Very good, both of you. That's enough. Now let's proceed toward jutsu."
Kaida and Yomi became ready to show their progress in ninjutsu. The Hokage said...
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